Nursing and PP? (plus re-intro)

[seahorse]

Greetings all,

I used to post on this board occasionally (as bcb). I started lowcarb in 2002, about 1 1/2 years after the birth of my daughter. After she was born I did Weight Watchers, lost 15 pounds, was hungry and miserable, and promptly gained it all back and then some. I was totally brainwashed by the low-fat dogma and thought there was something wrong with me (weak, lacking willpower, using food as an emotional crutch, etc.) and I was firmly convinced that low-carb was insanely dangerous. But when I found myself fatter than I had ever been in my life I decided to try Atkins, out of desperation, just for a few weeks, despite the "dangers." And of course I lost weight and felt great. I started doing more research and eventually decided that PP made the most sense to me. I lost 30 lbs. and kept it off easily. Then I got pregnant with Baby #2 and backed off on strict low carb although I made sure to get plenty of healthy protein and fat each meal. As a result, 6 months after my son was born, I only have to lose 15 lbs. instead of 30. Yay!
I would like to hear from anyone who has done PP while nursing. My baby is now 6 1/2 months old and I feel ready to lose the weight, but I am willing to wait if it would compromise my milk supply. He has been eating some solids for about a month now, but I am still his main source of nutrition. Is it OK to do the strict intervention stage while nursing? Or should I up my daily carb grams a little?
Thanks!
Beth

[Gaelen]

Hi, Seahorse.

This is the information about low carbing while pregnant/nursing from The Protein Power Lifeplan Frequently Asked Questions. That used to be a searchable file on the old site; I'm in the process of converting it to a .pdf to be linked here.

Meanwhile, I've also moved your thread to the Challenges to Wellness, "Women's Wellness" forum. If you scan those topics, you'll find a lot of discussions about using PP or modifying PP while pregnant and/or nursing. Hope this helps!

===========
Pregnant or Nursing Women:
Can you follow the Protein Power diet while you're pregnant or nursing?

Pregnancy and nursing place an increased demand on the mother for both calories and protein. It is not safe to undertake a reduced calorie intervention during these times. But the Protein Power Plan Maintenance program is actually a very healthy structure-plenty of lean protein, dairy protein, fresh colorful vegetables and fruits, no refined sugar, and minimal wheat, corn, or potato starch. As long as you have normal, healthy kidneys, it's a great nutritional regimen.

Add the extra calories required to maintain weight during these special conditions (pregnancy and lactation) as lean protein, dairy, or good-quality fats, and keep the carbohydrate at about 1/3 more grams than your daily minimum protein requirement. For example: If your daily minimum protein requirement was 75 grams per day, you should increase it to 90 or 100 grams per day during pregnancy or lactation. You would set your carbohydrate grams at about 30% more than that, or 120-130 effective grams per day.
Remember, you can have more protein and more good fat, but keep the carbohydrate fixed near this level. And remember to check any nutritional changes with your obstetrician before you make them.
==================

[dvdmon]

Beth, to my knowledge, there's no reason not to restrict carbs while nursing, but as Gaelen points out from the Eades own writings, you should be careful not to decrease calories too much. I think it's probably ok to lose weight while nursing until you're at your goal, but just very gradually. You might also want to check with a local La Leche League group and get their take on "dieting" while nursing.

[seahorse]

Thanks for your help! I was wondering whether I should have posted here, but since I was also reintroducing myself to the board after an extended absence, I decided to go with the main board. Maybe I should re-post my intro, sans nursing questions, up there again.

I'm going to go ahead and try restricting myself to 40 ECC/day and see how it goes. No attempt at calorie restriction, though, other than simply not eating more than it takes to feel satisfied. Nursing burns a lot of calories! If I feel awful and/or see any changes in my milk supply, I will try increasing to 60-70 ECC.

Beth

[LMN]

Hi - I am still nursing my 11and a half month old and have PPed at a maintainance level all through. Although this week I'm back in 'Boot Camp' to rebalance after my Christmas/New Year indulgences!
My daughter has always been happy and healthy, a good weight and height, and I certainally have never lacked milk.
I have started to reduce the number of breasfeeds with a view to weaning her soon, but this is because I feel the time is right - nothing to do with our way of eating.
Basically I believe that making wise carb choices (ie lots of fruit and vege, really) and not going too low calorie is the way to go in both pregnancy and breast feeding.
I found the La Leachce (spelling?) website very useful. In their Q & A section they specifically address low carb eating.
As an aside, I always make sure she has plenty of protein in her meals - watch out for commercial baby food, even things like "Beef and Vegetable" are only 9% meat, which works out at about 3% protein.